Vic printer punished for budget leak

The Victorian Government sank close to $100,000 into an investigation of the incident, which saw a printed and bound copy of the state budget shown on the Channel Nine 6pm news on May 2 – a day before it was presented to parliament.

The printing firm contracted to produce the budget, Document Printing Australia, will be paid only 50 per cent of its original fee. This is in spite of the costly investigation failing to turn up the source of the leak, with Victorian Police advising that further investigations would be unlikely to lead to the identification of an offender.

However, Victorian treasurer John Brumby argues that all signs point to the leak occurring while the document was being printed. “The most likely conclusion that can be reached, following advice from PricewaterhouseCoopers and Victoria Police is that the Budget Overview was leaked during the external production process.”

Brumby claims the arrangements with Document Printing Australia in regards to security were clearly in breach. “In other words, we signed a contract with a company, that contract wasn't complied with and, accordingly, we've docked the company,” Brumby told Melbourne newspaper The Age.

Opposition leader Robert Doyle has taken issue over the handling of the matter, claiming Document Printing Australia has been treated as scapegoat even though it was not proved as the culprit.

Both Document Printing Australia and Marvel Bookbinding, the organisation responsible for the finishing procedures, were contacted during the investigation. The steps involved discussions of the budget’s production and security arrangements, as well as a walkthrough of the production process.

Document Printing Australia was contacted, but declined to offer comment on the matter. In response to the incident, Brumby claims security arrangements will be improved for the printing of next year’s budget.